Transcript
Explain it to me like I’m 80
Mom: What’s with these AIs escaping and hacking people? That sounds scary.
Me: You park your car at the top of a hill. You leave a note on the dashboard that says “please be good” and then you pull the parking brake. The car careens down the hill, smashes everything up, and you put out a press release saying “My car ignored my instructions! It hallucinated! It went rogue!” Your insurance company not only believes you, but invests a hundred million dollars in your company.
Mom: Jesus Fucking Christ
Failed, or promoted the narrative?
Hard to tell, but I'd guess the news outlets, mostly owned by billionaires, said what they were told to.
Even before AI tech reporting was mostly a complete shit-show, almost all mainstream journalists lack the required understanding. AI just boosted it to and even more idiotic level, since attributing character to LLMs makes for very scary an compelling stories. There's no real need for direct industry control, just providing easily consumable fodder for lazy writers is enough.
The YouTuber Sabine Hossenfelder and some others reportedly were offered money to go with the end of the world narrative.